Wire Annotation for Panel Footprints Issues

[Anonymous]

Hello Everyone,

I'm a newby to this forum and to ACADE. I am able to work with the program fairly well. The drawings my company makes are several sheets of schematics ending with a sheet for a point-to-point diagram. The problem I have is that sometimes in creating the point-to-point some or none of the points want to show up. This doesn't happen with every drawing set, but I just recently worked with a set of drawings that would only show the connections on one two pole T-block. For everything else, I get messages in the command line like this:

26Q1:              - No schematic wire connections found
                 (match 6 on "26Q1" only)

I know that there is a hidden block or sheet or something or other that sometimes the program will ask me if I want to add. I was told to click "Yes" when this screen shows up. However, that doesn't always work. I have been wracking my brain to figure this out, but I have no idea what to do or where to go with it to fix the problem. I have been over the schematics to make sure the wires are connected properly (no gaps between), that all of the information for the devices is in there, and I still get these messages for the entire project except the one terminal block.

From the messages I gather that the program is recognizing the information on the other schematic sheets, but for some reason, there is a disconnect between the point-to-point schematic and the rest of the drawings. I would like to be able to figure this problem out as it highly affects my production; too much time is being spent on figuring out how to get the program to respond correctly.

I'm working with ACADE 2008 and Windows 7. Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated and I will try each one to see how it works.

Thanks,

Jeff

Electrical Engineer

Virgina Tranformer Corp.

[dougmcalexander]

It sounds like you're getting the prompt to insert the WD_M block.  That contains Drawing Properties which serve as design rules.  You should work from a prepared template that already includes that block.  There is a method to create this template.  The first step is to create the border andadd the attributes for the title block data.  Then use Title Block Setup to map the attributes for automatic Title Block Update to function.  Save this drawing as a .dwg.  Insert this drawing into a blank drawing, created using the acad.dwt template.  Click Drawing Properties and set your preferred defaults. I suggest adding any wire types you will use so your From/To List will be specific.  Finally adjust the layer colors and wire types, if you aren't satisfied with the defaults.  I cover all the steps in detail on the Tips/Tricks page at www.ecadconsultant.com.  Look for the 12-step guide, entitled:

• 12 easy steps to creating your own custom "smart" border template for AutoCAD® Electrical

The point-to-point drawing cannot duplicate circuits you have already created on other drawings within the same project, if that is what you are attempting.  This program avoids duplication so reports produce accurate data.  There may be some ways to trick the software.  I did this years ago before single-line capability was added in version 2010.  The newer versions support a concept called WDTYPE, which allows you to designate a device as basically another view of the same device shown elsewhere.  For example, a single-line device will have an attribute called WDTYPE with a value of 1-.

[Anonymous]

Hi Doug,

Thanks for your answer. I did several things yesterday to try and make the screen come up that asks me if I want to add the WD_M block to the drawing, but it never would. I have found the path to finding out whether or not the WD_M block is in there, and it was, and I know now how to add it manually. One thing I did find in the drawings was the person who had created the terminal blocks that I was working with had created double blocks (Instead of 1-12, they were 1-12 and 1-12. Essentially a 24 T-block where a 12 T-block was being used) which, when I went into the "Edit Terminal Strip" function, there was no nomenclature listed for the second list of 12 blocks. Once I was able to eradicate those blocks from the build, the points started showing up. I have yet to determine what is going on with the other devices; that I will try to accomplish today. I suppose from this that the program was only seeing the last 12 terminal blocks which had no connection info, and it was reporting that. Funny that the 12 pole T-block was setup with 24, but only 12 of them would show up on the page, and that the program would not list the connections in the point-to-point for the 12 that were showing. Something I find unusual too is, "left is right" and "right is left" when it comes to lining up the connections on the p-p using the "Text Options" tab. Is there any way to flip that around? It's like the orientation is wrong.

One thing I'm trying to accomplish with all of this is to save for myself a set of drawings and devices that are correct that I can cull from when I need to create a new project since we copy and paste from other jobs. I find too that some of the devices that are in "Insert > Block" have mistakes. If you start with bad drawings and never fix them, none of them will ever be right; so I'm trying to fix whatever I use. When I have the time I will certainly look into your suggestion and see what that will do for me. Again, I thank you for your help.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Just to give you all an update, I figured out what my issues were, and here is what I found:

1. The terminal blocks were either doubled or had enough extra empty block doubles that were interfering with the point-to-point. Someone had actually setup some of the text blocks with 24 blocks instead of 12 numbered 1-12 twice. Half of them had the info I needed, the other half were empty. Once I deleted the empty blocks, those points would come up. One thing I didn't like about the "Terminal Block Editor" utility was it required me to either install the block new, after the edit, or rebuild the block, which meant that I had to painstakingly grab each individual block and restack them. This was very tedious. And if there is a way to accomplish this without having to do it this way, it would be great if someone could share with me how to do that; it would save loads of time.

2. I found devices on my point to point page that had incorrect WDBLKNAM info in them, and once I got rid of that data, the points came up for them.

3. From figuring out item 2, I also learned that other devices are dependent on these devices having correct WDBLKNAM info for their points to come up. Once I got WDBLKNAM straightened out, the points for everything else came up.

I know to some of you these things may seem routine and ordinary, and probably pedestrian, but remember, I am new to ACADE, and I'm getting no training where I work; so, I'm in the deep end of the pool already.

I hope this helps someone out in the future, I certainly would have liked to have known what was going on.

I also learned a lot about what will not solve these problems, as this turned into a snipe hunt for me.

Another route I took was to check the "Missing Panel/Level Sequencing". Though there were some missing panel/level sequences, it did not matter as I checked other drawings that had successfully created point-points, and they too had missing panel/level sequences.

I also tried searching for issues with block drawings in the Block Editor, but could find nothing.

In conclusion, if there are issues with a drawing you are copying that someone else drew, and they contain terminal blocks, run "Edit Terminal Blocks" and check to see if there are spare unused blocks in the mix that are doubles of the said terminal block. If there are, delete them; you will smile at the results. For other devices, check to make sure the WDBLKNAM is correct for that device, and if it's wrong, either correct it, or just delete it.

My 2 pennies

Jeff

[Icemanau]

In regards to the terminal blocks, is there a reason you didn't use the Terminal Strip Editor.

It will place a graphic of the terminal strip on the dwg (see attachment). It also allow you to set which side the wire connects and updates the schematics with that data. You can also add accessories like end clamps, end plates and so on. The wire number are also placed automatically in the process.

Making changes manually as you described would take a fair bit of time while using the TSE it would take about 10-15 minutes in total.

As a bonus, duplicated terminals will show up as extra terminals rather than being drawn on top of each other.

Regards Brad